Clans urged to use royalty wisely

CENTRAL Governor Robert Agarobe has urged the people in four PNG LNG-impacted villages to use the money they receive as royalty wisely. The Mineral Resource Development Company Limited paid out the 40 per cent share to the 14 clans of Boera village. The other three villages of Porebada, Papa and Lealea will be receiving their royalties from the LNG (liquefied natural gas) project this week. Rearea village and Papa village will receive K1,746,946 each. Boera villagers will get K1,352,027 while Porebada villagers will get K1,154,755. Others will get K250,000. They are from the first shipment of LNG in June 2014. “The benefits (from the LNG project) are starting to come in now. This marks an historical occasion for the impacted villages,” Agarobe said. The four villages get 40 per cent while 30 per cent goes to their Community Investment Trust Fund and 30 per cent to the Future Generation Trust Fund as per their Ministerial Determination under the Gas Resource PNG LNG Plant Limited company. Agarobe said “it will really not be a benefit if you don’t invest it well”. “If you eat it or drink it up then it is not a benefit. But if you invest it well and it changes your life and your children’s life for the better, then it is a benefit,” he said. “This is your money and you have the right to do whatever with it. But when you use it, you have to be very wise with how you spend this money. We need to learn from other landowner companies that have faced issues who had not used their benefits wisely.” Agarobe said the villages were on the outskirts of Port Moresby city. “We are being affected and influenced by the lives in the city. So it is very important how we invest our money,” he said. Mineral Resource Development Company managing director Augustine Mano said royalties for 2016 and 2017 would be different.